Chapter 76 - A Test

“Daddy, you can’t execute them!” 

“Don’t worry about that.” 

Did he think I would just brush this off? I started racking my brain, “No, I’ve only been a princess for a short time! I’m the saintess, after all. Imagine if God got upset by all the bloodshed?”

“It’s fine. I’ll kill God too.” 

I was astounded by his steely-eyed determination, “how can you kill God?” 

He was going to be in so much trouble! As I scrambled out of bed, Miltiades looked at me nervously. He tried to stop me since it hadn’t been long since I woke up, “Lie down. You’re still unwell.” 

“I oppose the execution!”

“Lie down.”

“Just make them my slaves!” 

“That sounds good.” Miltiades agreed with me effortlessly, even though I had blurted out the suggestion without thinking. I was so shocked that I gaped at him with widened eyes, but he merely smiled joyfully as he put me back to bed. “They’re all useless lives anyway, so I’ll give them to you.” I blinked at him, not knowing whether I should be happy or upset. ‘What’s going on?’

***

Luciana was the one who found me unconscious. Claud had disappeared, and Kais was found along with me, unhurt. “I see.” Luciana looked like she wanted to say something else. But, I was so shocked to hear them talk about how enraged Miltiades was that I forgot to ask her. “Did he really do that?” 

“Yes! I’ve never seen His Majesty so upset.” 

“His Majesty was so mad I thought he was going to kill everyone in the palace.”

“Right? I thought there would be another bloodbath.”

Mia, Lana, and Sarah kept talking one after another as they smiled at me. “We’re so happy you woke up safely.” There was no way I could have remained unconscious, as everyone in the palace had prayed for me. It seemed like the universe wanted me to wake up. 

After the maids left, Luciana asked, “What in the world happened?” 

“I saw Claud.”

“The paladin you sent away? The missing one?” I nodded. Luciana had a stricken expression on her face. “Apparently he had a lot of ill will towards me,” I said. I didn’t tell her that he was being controlled by Magi. There was a more urgent matter, “Find out who helped him to enter the palace, whether it’s a paladin or a slave.” 

“Yes, I understand.” It was impossible to enter the palace without showing identification. If Claud was able to get in, that meant someone in the palace was helping him. It was possible that the person I was looking for was someone whom I would filter out. “What should we do with the other slaves?” Luciana asked. I was waiting for this question, “Give all the slaves involved in the riot to Daddy, and leave the rest alone.” 

“Yes, I understand.”

“And charge them for what we’ve provided so far.”

“Everything?”

“Yep!” I beamed brightly. Luciana’s voice trembled as she asked, “Weren’t you giving it all for free?”

“Nope, I gave it to them on credit,” I replied with a light shrug, “There’s no free lunch in this world. Everything had a price. If anyone refuses to pay up, write down their names and send the list to Daddy. Have the rest of them start working.”

“What should I have them do?”

“Anything they can around the palace. Oh, and give me the papers about their future plans.” I was filled with joy at the thought of all these extra helping hands. While I was enjoying myself, Luciana glared at me. I flinched under her intense gaze.

“Saintess, tell me.”

“What?”

“I don’t think you’re making them work to pay off their credit, so why did you let them do what they want?” 

“You really wanna know?” 

Luciana continued, “Did you know in advance that something like this was going to happen?” I smiled at her keen sense of observation, “Well, I didn’t think Kais was going to be kidnapped.” But I had predicted that there was going to be an incident. If I had known how things turned out, I would have searched for him. 

“Why in the world did you do this?”

“Luci, do you know the best way to discover someone’s true nature?” Luciana tilted her head quizzically at my question. I then proceeded to answer it for her, “Be nice to them.” In other words, be a pushover: the more people see you as weak, the more vicious they become. This was a good way to filter them out. They were all placed in the same situation, and they could all ask for one thing each day. Under these circumstances, there would be people who wanted to drink and ruin themselves, while others would choose to read and better themselves. 

“I need those who are ready to learn and grow. Who are thankful for the present and are preparing for the future.” This was a test to find such people. 

“Wouldn’t it have been better to find people like that from the very beginning?” 

“If I had told everyone what I wanted at the start, would you have been able to filter out the ones who are like this?” The answer was no. There was a reason why I went to all this trouble. 

“What are you going to do with these people?” 

With a smirk, I yelled in my best villain voice, “Why, I’m going to conquer the world, of course!”